Summer Reading Assignment
for all incoming sophomores 2016-17
Ms. Selvas-Budka Pre AP and AP English II
Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five tells the story of
Billy Pilgrim, a man who is ‘‘unstuck’’ and travels back
and forth in time. The two central events to which Billy
returns are his abduction by aliens from the planet
Tralfamadore and his time as a prisoner of war during
World War II when he witnesses the Allied firebombing
of the German city of Dresden.
Two particular motifs or thematic ideas in the story are
alienation and loneliness.
The audio book version can also be found at
http://eslbits.net/ESL.English.Learning.Audiobooks/ESL.English.Learning.Audiobo
oks.html
Answer the following questions in complete sentences and use direct quotes as evidence
to support your answers. This work is mandatory and is due the first week of school.
You will have a test on it the first week of school.
Chapter 1
1. Explain why Vonnegut has chosen to make this chapter the first of SlaughterhouseFive rather than making it a preface.
2. Describe three different attitudes toward war described in this chapter.
3. What does Vonnegut say World War II did for people?
Chapter 2
1. What is the name of the fighting group to which Weary imagines he belongs?
2. How do Tralfamadorians perceive time?
3. How do Tralfamadorians understand death? What phrase is the Tralfamadorian
response to death?
Chapter 3
1. What precise phrase describes the condition of Weary’s feet?
2. How do the actions of the teenaged German soldier toward Billy contrast to Weary’s
treatment of him?
3. How does Vonnegut humanize the German guards?
Chapter 4
1. What promise does Paul Lazzaro make to Roland Weary before he dies?
2. How is Billy’s coat different from everyone else’s?
3. Why is Billy not allowed to sleep on the floor with everyone else?
Chapter 5
1. What does Billy dream of when he is on morphine?
2. How does the scene with the punched prisoner parallel an experience Billy has with
the Tralfamadorians?
3. What is the problem with the Bible as it stands, according to The Gospel from Outer
Space?
Chapter 6-7
1. Does Billy get committed to an asylum after the incident in his optometry office?
2. What animal disease is used to describe Paul Lazarro?
3. Which of the “millions of things” that Billy dreams after his operation are true?
Chapter 8
1. What detail about the hog barn shows how intense the firestorm that engulfed Dresden
must have been?
2. What is Campbell’s final argument in favor of fighting the Russians?
3. How did the troop of Americans come to have only four guards?
Chapter 9-10
1. How do the aliens from Zircon-212 manipulate their human captives?
2. What does the wagon Billy rides in look like?
3. Why does Rumfoord say the Air Force wanted to cover up the bombing of Dresden?
Also:
Cite with page numbers 10 quotes that reflect loneliness or alienation. Explain the
speaker (Who said the quote?); situation (Where and when does the quote happen in the
book?) and significance (Why and how does the quote show alienation or loneliness?).